Cyberhate against academics
Jason Branford, André Grahle, Jan‐Christoph Heilinger, Dennis Kalde, Max Muth, Eva Maria Parisi, Paula‐Irene Villa, Verina Wild · 2019
Hate speech is endemic in digital space, and it does not spare academia. Especially scholars working in fields prone to political debate - from migration to climate change, from gender to refugee integration, and many more topics - find themselves increasingly attacked. With this chapter, we hope to raise awareness for the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of cyberhate targeting academics. Our intention is to shed light on some of its harmful effects, and, by providing some conceptual analysis, to contribute to individual and organisational prevention and coping strategies. We conclude that guarding against cyberhate is now part of academics’ and their institutions’ responsibility.